


nobody needs to know

by nifeandaccurate (12AM)



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, and questionable decisions are made, they're on the brink of something new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 16:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5633596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/12AM/pseuds/nifeandaccurate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After inception, Saito comes to Arthur with a request.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nobody needs to know

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr [here](http://nifeandaccurate.tumblr.com/post/117211196930/arthursaito-no-one-needs-to-know) for the prompt "Arthur/Saito, 'No one needs to know'" from velificantes.

 

Two months after the Fischer job, Arthur gets a call. He knew this would be coming they walked through those airport gates and away from inception. He picks up the phone with a touch of regret. The next day, he gets on a flight to Japan.

“Mr. Saito,” Arthur says carefully, “I really do urge you against this.” He stands, hands clutched behind his back, in the top floor of Saito’s business headquarters. The man himself is standing in front of the expansive glass windows, silhouetted by the skyline. An image of power and wealth and he’s practically begging Arthur to be the ruin of him.

“No one needs to know,” says Saito, deliberately misconstruing his warning.

Arthur can see where this is going. This time it’ll be one last job, just something small to tie off loose ends. Then something else will crop up, nothing too big but it’s important that they go under again, then another and another and before Saito knows it, the waking world won’t be enough. He’ll end up another empty person chained to a dream den.

“Dreamshare is a slippery slope, ” Arthur says, because he doesn’t know how to make him understand that this industry is no place for civilians. He’s watched people lose everything because of Dreamshare—sleep, families, heads.

“I trust you,” Saito says, leaning forward.  

“Please don’t,” he says wearily, drawing back. He’s not like Cobb— he doesn’t have family who he’d put his life on the line for. He’s been in this industry since he left the military in disgrace and there’s nothing else left for him now. Clients will come and go but he’ll still be here.

“I need you to understand the gravity of your request,” he says. “If something happens and you fall into Limbo, I can’t promise that I’ll come after you.”

Back before everything went commercial, when he met a few academics who were willing to get their hands dirty, he let himself buy into the magic and endless possibilities of Dreamshare. He found himself in the side of dreaming that they were never allowed to see in the military.

But dreams still have a price and Mal was lost to it.

If Saito wants to wade back into Dreamshare, Arthur will take him. But when the tide comes in, he’ll be gone.

 


End file.
